It is known to construct such a transfer station as a frame or assembly which guides the upper and lower rums of the scraper-chain assemblies of the conveyors in an intersecting manner. Each scraper-chain assembly runs through the frame and is entrained around a drum supported by the frame. The frame is equipped with connections for detachably uniting an endmost pan of the gate conveyor and a support for the drum of the gate conveyor.
A transfer station of this construction is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,673,079. The frame is here constructed as a so-called cross frame, in which the top run and bottom run of the face and gate conveyors cross over the frame so that the top run of the gate conveyor travels between the top run and the bottom run of the face conveyor. In this transfer station, as also in other such constructions (DE-2659855 and DE-2237976) the line of pans of the gate conveyor is securely connected to the frame by its ramp pan. In the transfer station according to U.S. Pat. No. 4,673,079, this takes place by using bolts or screws. On the connection side of the frame lying opposite the gate conveyor, the chain drum support for the return drum of the gate conveyor together with a hood-shaped housing covering the return drum is attached.
It is an object of the invention, inter alia, to construct a transfer station of the aforementioned general type so that it can be used optionally for left-hand or right-hand connection of the gate conveyor.